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US senators seek to cut Iran's oil sales in half – again

Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez tells AIPAC he's pushing package of sanctions aimed at cutting Iran's current oil exports; White House officials meet with Jewish leaders ahead of Geneva talks

Fresh US sanctions over Iran's disputed nuclear program being debated behind closed doors in the Senate aim to slash the country's oil sales in half within a year of the plan being signed into law, an influential senator said this week.

 

Robert Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in New York on Monday that a package of sanctions ready to move in his chamber has a goal of cutting Iran's current oil exports to no more than 500,000 barrels per day.

 

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The reduction being sought is about 500,000 bpd less than a more severe bill passed by the House of Representatives in July, which aimed to slash exports to nearly zero.

 

The Senate bill, which has yet to be introduced by the banking committee, has been widely expected to be weaker than the House bill, which some analysts had said was not realistic.

 

Since the beginning of 2012, US and European sanctions have already cut Iran's oil exports to about 1 million bpd from about 2.5 million bpd, costing the Islamic Republic crude sales worth billions of dollars a month, and helping to spike inflation and unemployment.

 

But international talks over Iran's nuclear program have revived after self-described moderate President Hassan Rohani took office in August in Tehran.

 

Menendez said Iran must freeze and dismantle its nuclear program and demonstrate it is complying before sanctions are lifted.

 

"This is not the time to loosen sanctions," Menendez told AIPAC, according to a copy of the speech that was seen by Reuters. Menendez said he had told members of the Obama administration he was ready to work with fellow senators to move a new package of sanctions if necessary.

 

Menendez said the sanctions package would require China, India, South Korea, Turkey andJapan, Iran's remaining oil customers, to further slash their purchases of Iranian crude and other petroleum products.

 

Aversion to conflict

Bob McNally, a White House adviser on energy to former President George W. Bush, Obama's Republican predecessor, said the House bill was seen by many lawmakers as too aggressive.

 

"The only thing stronger than love for Israel in the Congress is aversion to another military conflict," said McNally. "There is a concern in the Congress about tightening the sanctions so much that it would lead to a conflict."

 

The plan mentioned by Menendez could still undergo big changes in the banking committee and before being passed by the full Senate, reconciled with the House, and signed into law by Obama.

 

The Obama administration has pressed the Senate to hold off on introducing new sanctions in order to give the talks a chance.

 

Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew are set to hold a secret meeting with senators on Thursday about progress of the talks. The United States, China, Russia, Great Britain, France and Germany, the so-called P5+1, are due to hold a second round of talks with Iran in Geneva on Nov 7-8.

 

Meanwhile, Top US administration officials hosted Jewish leaders ahead of the second round of nuclear talks with Iran. One official told the Jewish leaders that that the US will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon but that the preferred course of action would be to resolve the matter in peaceful, diplomatic ways.

 

The meeting was attended by leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and AIPAC. White House officials said the meeting was constructive.

 

Yitzhak Benhorin contributed to this report

 

 

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פרסום ראשון: 10.30.13, 09:45
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